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Insigbt
Prison site
across river
stirs debate
Legal ramifications
unclear to officials
in Missouri, Kansas
ByEdWojdcki
State capital bureau
JEFFERSON CITY When
Missouri officials finally chose a site for
the new medium- securit- y prison near
the Kansas border in Buchanan County,
they created problems that have not
been resolved
If the prison is built on the site selec-ted,
prisoners will be delivered through
2.2 kilometers ( 14 miles) of Kansas
territory On that stretch of land, for
example, whose jurisdiction would the
prisoner be under7
Missouri officials can only provide
uncertain and confusing answers
" We went to the attorney general's
office to advise us of ramifications and
solutions," said J Neil Nielsen, direc-tor
of the Office of Administration in
Jefferson City " We don't have all the
ends tied up"
Atty Gen John Danforth said, " The
problem is that this is a unique
situation They are legal questions that
are novel legal questions
" Are there legal problems7 Our an-swer
is yes We're not sure we can
foresee what they all will be "
When the Office of Administration
and the Division of Corrections decided
the medium- secunt- y prison should be
in Buchanan County, they recom-mended
several sites.
The site in French Bottoms was selec-ted,
Nielsen said, because of such im-portant
factors as cost, extension of
utilities, the terrain and sewage
" We've got to build that prison
We've got to get that prison built in
Missouri," Nielsen said
Nielsen may have been referring to
the Division of Corrections' need for a
new facility, but there may be much
more to what he was saying
For example, initially there was
some doubt whether the site was even
in Missouri The site is west of the
Missouri River but is considered
Missouri property because a 1952 flood
moved the river's course eastward. The
path of the rivet changed, tint the state
line did not
Regardless, the only method of get-ting
to the proposed site now is by
traveling throughKansas
Since 1952, no court has been asked to
decide the precise location of the
Missouri- Kans- as boundary Danforth,
however, says there is " no doubt it is
Missouri's land"
Danforth emphasized the boundary
question has nothing to do with building
the prison The crux of the issue deals
with transporting the prisoners
The attorney general listed several
hypothetical problems which he said
are " very serious questions." But, he
added, " there is no precedent to con-sult"
First when a prisoner is being
delivered to the prison, in whose
custody is he while on that drive
through Kansas7
Also, if the transporting vehicle had
an accident and the prisoner were hurt,
could Missouri be sued even though the
accident happened in Kansas7
Thud, Missouri law says no prisoner
on parole or furlough may leave the
state Would that mean that no inmate
of the proposed prison could be released
on parole or furlough7
These potential problems need to be
resolved, Danforth said, but " all a
lawyer does is predict what a court
would do"
Since the courts have never dealt
( See PRISON, Page M)
t
- - '
Six seek school board seats
By Mary Dalbeim and Karen Olson
Missourian staff writers
A semes of last- minu- te filings has tur-ned
what could have been a dull school
board election into a contest
Until Friday, Ray Lewis and Patsy
Garner had no opponents in the April 6
election for two positions on the Colum-bia
Board of Education Now, six
names -- those of Joseph A Cady. Hillis
D Crowell, Arlin Epperson, Phil
Prather, Garner and Lewis will ap--
pear on the ballot
Board President Ray Lewis, 49, of
1233 Sunset Drive, will seek re- electi- on
by making his first priority " to solve
the district's present financial crisis "
He outlined four other areas of con-cern
reconditioning old buildings,
continuing to stress vocational
education, striking a balance between
curriculum extras and basic skills, with
an increased emphasis on the basics,
and stressing " firm but fair"
classroom discipline
He has been a school board member
since 1970 and has served as president
for the past two years Lewis, a prac-ticing
attorney in Columbia for 21
years, is a partner in the Smith, Lewis
and Rogers law firm
He has two daughters who were
graduated from Hickman High School
and a son who attends there now Lewis
is a ueacon at the First Christian Chur-ch
Candidate Patsy Gamer, 38, of 109
Russell Blvd , says she would like to in--
crease the school board's effectiveness
as both a policy- makin- g body and a two- wa- y
communication line between
school and community
" Two ways parent and community in-volvement
could increase are through
more productive use of citizens' ad-visory
councils and unproved volunteer
programs," Gamer says
Another of Garner's concerns is ' the
need to have programs which reflect
locally determined goals and priorities
Too often we build our programs
around federal funds that are available,
instead of developing programs to
fulfill unmet needs of our students," she
says
" The quality of schools depends
heavily upon the teaching staff," Gar-ner
says " We need to continue to at-tract
and retain the most capable
people by giving teachers the en-couragement
and recognition they
deserve "
She believes well- planne- d, in- servi- ce
( See LAST- MINUT- E, Page 16)
68th Year No. 133 Good Morning! It's Saturday, February 28 1 976 16 Pages - 15 OnN
Fire officials issue
burning permit ban
Because of record high temperatures
that have caused numerous brush fires,
permits for burning inside Columbia
have been suspended until further
notice, Marvin Nichols, fire prevention
batallion chief for the Columbia Fire
Department said Friday.
But even with the ban, local fire
fighters are exraecting a large number
of calls dunrg tne weekend
Dave Busse, a fire fighter for the
Boone County Fire Protection District
said Friday, " It's frustrating, but
there's no way it can be stopped "
Officers of the fire protection district
and the Columbia department warned
that high winds and dry weather have
increased the possibility of grass and
brush fires
Fire fighters from the two depart-ments
said they responded to 15 grass
fires Thursday and Friday an
unusually large number of such fires
for February Nichols said that anyone
violating the burning ban would be sub-ject
to prosecution.
Because of the warm weather trend,
specialists fear Columbia may ex-perience
a hot, dry summer with
possible drought conditions
Delbert Porter of the National
Weather Service said a report from the
St Louis weather service shows that
" 75 iter cent of the times we've had a
warm February, we've had a hot and
dry summer"
The warm, dry weather has set a high
temperature record for the Columbia
area
Larry Blanchard, weather service
specialist at the Columbia Regional
Airport, said this is the fourth warmest
February since 1890, when record-keeping
began " This is the fifth time
this month we've had temperatures at
least 20 degrees above normal "
Richard Crabb, fire fighter for the
county fire district said most of the
grass fires this week were caused by
careless burning
Crabb said the district will keep ad-ditional
fire fighters on duty this
weekend to handle the expected in-crease
in calls
vfBfEtB--- BSES- n
One person's pleasure is another's poison. While University
freshmen Bev Dietrich, left, and Robin Beissenherz basked
in the afternoon sun Friday, Bob Stanley of the Columbia
Fire Department kicked at a smoldering stump during a
grass fire that was making his day a bit more uncomfortable
( Missourian photos by Barry J Locher)
6Good schools' face reality of cutbacks
By Michael Days
Missourian staff writer
The focus of the Columbia Public
School District's tax rate increase and
bond campaign is that " Good Schools
are a Tradition in Columbia " Yet the
presentations are interspersed with the
realities of a budget that has been cut
and trimmed as much as possible
Since the school board adopted an
" austerity budget" last year, it has
made cuts in the following areas, ac-cording
to statistics compiled by the
school board
The number of teachers was
reduced by 13, although enrollment in-creased
by 98
The number of school buses was cut
by five
The budget for class field trips was
slashed by two- third- s.
The building maintenance budget
was reduced by $ 80,000 during the last
two years
The capital outlay budget, which in-cludes
major items of equipment, such
as microscopes, typewriters and audio-visual
equipment, was cut by ap-proximately
two- thir- ds The capital
outlay budget was reduced from
$ 124,435 two years ago to $ 87,500 last
year, and then reduced again to $ 28,500
this year
Other efforts to economize have in-cluded
the lowering of thermostats m
classrooms, turning off some lights and
students using both sides of paper
The district's voters will decide
Tuesday whether the 44- ce- nt tax rate
increase and the $ 2 5 million bond issue
becomes law Bom require a two- thir- ds
voter approval
The bond issue would not raise taxes
Polls located throughout the distinct
will be open from 6 am to7pm
Because of a typographical error, the
$ 2.5 million bond issue was reported
Friday in the Columbia Missourian as
$ 12 5 million
Passage of the levy would allow for
an increase in teachers' salaries Board
of Education president Ray Lewis said
the percentage increase each teacher
would receive is not yet known The
present base salary is $ 7,700, about
$ 250 below the median base salary for
teachers in AAA schools in Missouri
In the last five years the base salary
for teachers in Columbia has increased
31 per cent while, according to the
Bureau of Labor Statistics, the cost of
living has increased 45 6 per cent
Teachers were given a 2 per cent base
salary increase last year
The average salaries for AAA schools
in both the Kansas City and St Louis
areas are well above those in Columbia
The average starting salary in the Kan-sas
City and St Louis areas are well
above those in Columbia The average
starting salary in the Kansas City area
is $ 8,238, while in the St Louis area it is
$ 8,518 The only school districts with
AAA ratings below Colunua's starting
salary are Kirksville at $ 7,400, Han-nibal
at $ 7,550 and Fulton at $ 7,600
Other representative starting salaries
are St Joseph, $ 8,000, Jefferson City,
$ 8,350, Sedalia, $ 7,796, and St Charles,
$ 7,900
Defeat of the levy could mean a
drastic increase" in the present 26 3
student average to each teacher, Lewis
said School Superintendent Robert
Shaw told a civic group earlier this
month that if the levy does not pass, the
board, teachers and parents would
have to get together to see what must be
dismantled
The district now spends ap-proximately
80 per cent of its budget on
salaries, Lewis said And, he said, the
district s administrative costs of 1 9 per
cent of the total budget are below the
state's average of 3 1 per cent
In addition to an increase mteacher's
salaries, the 44- ce- nt increase would
allow the district to meet the increasing
( See STATE, Page 16)
Youth's good deeds
bring death threats
LOS ANGELES ( UPI) - Ten- year- o- ld
Leon President is a hero to
the police for single- handed- ly catch-ing
a young thief, but he has been
getting death threats from his school
chums, his mother says, and is
leaving town
Leon was hailed as a hero by the
City Council for tracking down a
juvenile burglary ring and praised
by the police chief as a good exam-ple.
The police commission added its
laurels Thursday, a citation and a
new pair of real police handcuffs to
replace the dime store handcuffs
Leon lost when he pulled one of the
gang members off a bicycle and held
him for police.
Commission President Sam
Williams praised Leon for showing
" presence of mind, maturity of
judgment air a respect for law en-forcement
far beyond bis yean."
Leon's mother, Kathy President,
told the ccmrnjarion she waa proud
of her son. But she said she was sen-ding
Mm to live in another town
because of death threats from his
schoolmates She would not say
where he was going
Leon's story began last September
when he noticed children in his
neighborhood had a lot of money to
spend on trips to Disneyland,
bicycles and cash gifts to friends
Recalling a series of burglaries in
the neighborhood, usually the apart-ments
of elderly persons robbed af-ter
cashing Social Security checks,
Leon began investigating and soon
was offered an $ 11 bribe to keep
quiet by three boys and a girl, ages
10 to 12, who learned he was aware of
their thefts
Leon took the cash to the
Hollywood division police station,
told his story to detectives and went
along when they made the arrests
While officers were in a house
taking the girl into custody, Leon
saw a 12- year-- old boy flee from the
rear door, hop on a bicycle and pedal
away Leon chased him on foot,
pulled him off the bicycle and clam-ped
his toy store handcuffs on him,
holding him for the detectives.
Survey indicates tax levy may fail
By Michael Days
Missourian staff writer
The Columbia Public School
District's proposed 44- ce- nt tax increase
and $ 2.5 million bond issue probably
will not be approved Tuesday, ac-cording
to a survey conducted by a
local radio station
In a random mad survey of
registered voters conducted by KBIA
radio ( 91 3 FM) the proposed tax in-crease
was favored by 41 per cent Fif-teen
per cent had no opinion. The bond
issue was favored by 44 per cent of the
respondents and opposed by 36 per cent
with 20 per cent undecided
Both issues would require a two- thir- ds
voter approval for passage
The survey, conducted under the
direction of Roger Gafke, KBIA news
director, and David Leuthold, Univer
sity associate professor of political
science, was conducted Feb 13 to 26
The survey was designed to be within
10 percentage points of what the results
would have been if all voters had been
interviewed, Leuthold said He
cautioned, however, that attitudes may
change before the vote Tuesday
because of campaigning by the school
district, the Parent- Teach- er
Association and the Community
Teachers Association
The questions asked were: " How do
you feel about the two propoflfcls to be
voted on March 2' Do yoa WRr or op-pose
the 44- ce- nt per $ 100 Ijteessed
valuation tax increase7 Do you fttVor or
oppose the $ 2 5 million bond issue?
No questions were asked in the sur--,
vey to give a deer JasScaSSon of who
planned to vote, UagteMaatdK either
the opponents or proponents tsfiB out to
vote at a substantially higher rate than
the other group, the survey results may
vary substantially from the actual
results of Tuesday's voting
The defeat of the tax increase would
not be surprising in view of the history
of sucn proposals in the distinct ac-cording
to the KBIA poll Three times in
the past 17 years the district has asked
voters to approve an increase in the
operating tax levy In each case the
proposal required a two- thir- ds majority
and was defeated
The KBIA report stated, however,
that bond issues in the same period
always have been approved by the
necessary two- thir- ds majority with
one exception In October 1959 a bond
issue was defeated in an election in
which the district also was asking for
an increase to the operating levy.
Leuthold said lack of support for the
bond issue could be explained as voter
disapproval of raising taxes Re-spondents
gave high ratings, Leuthold
said, to the quality of the school system
Voters were asked if they considered
local taxes to be high, medium, or low
and their responses were clearly
related to their position on the school
bond issue, according to the KBIA poll
Eighty- seve- n per cent of the people who
think local taxes are low favor the bond
issue, compared to 11 per cent of the
people who think local taxes are very
high
The KBIA poll shows supporters of
the school bond issue in Columbia are
comparatively young, well- educat- ed
professional people Opponents tend to
be older people who attended school at
a time when few people went to college

Insigbt
Prison site
across river
stirs debate
Legal ramifications
unclear to officials
in Missouri, Kansas
ByEdWojdcki
State capital bureau
JEFFERSON CITY When
Missouri officials finally chose a site for
the new medium- securit- y prison near
the Kansas border in Buchanan County,
they created problems that have not
been resolved
If the prison is built on the site selec-ted,
prisoners will be delivered through
2.2 kilometers ( 14 miles) of Kansas
territory On that stretch of land, for
example, whose jurisdiction would the
prisoner be under7
Missouri officials can only provide
uncertain and confusing answers
" We went to the attorney general's
office to advise us of ramifications and
solutions," said J Neil Nielsen, direc-tor
of the Office of Administration in
Jefferson City " We don't have all the
ends tied up"
Atty Gen John Danforth said, " The
problem is that this is a unique
situation They are legal questions that
are novel legal questions
" Are there legal problems7 Our an-swer
is yes We're not sure we can
foresee what they all will be "
When the Office of Administration
and the Division of Corrections decided
the medium- secunt- y prison should be
in Buchanan County, they recom-mended
several sites.
The site in French Bottoms was selec-ted,
Nielsen said, because of such im-portant
factors as cost, extension of
utilities, the terrain and sewage
" We've got to build that prison
We've got to get that prison built in
Missouri," Nielsen said
Nielsen may have been referring to
the Division of Corrections' need for a
new facility, but there may be much
more to what he was saying
For example, initially there was
some doubt whether the site was even
in Missouri The site is west of the
Missouri River but is considered
Missouri property because a 1952 flood
moved the river's course eastward. The
path of the rivet changed, tint the state
line did not
Regardless, the only method of get-ting
to the proposed site now is by
traveling throughKansas
Since 1952, no court has been asked to
decide the precise location of the
Missouri- Kans- as boundary Danforth,
however, says there is " no doubt it is
Missouri's land"
Danforth emphasized the boundary
question has nothing to do with building
the prison The crux of the issue deals
with transporting the prisoners
The attorney general listed several
hypothetical problems which he said
are " very serious questions." But, he
added, " there is no precedent to con-sult"
First when a prisoner is being
delivered to the prison, in whose
custody is he while on that drive
through Kansas7
Also, if the transporting vehicle had
an accident and the prisoner were hurt,
could Missouri be sued even though the
accident happened in Kansas7
Thud, Missouri law says no prisoner
on parole or furlough may leave the
state Would that mean that no inmate
of the proposed prison could be released
on parole or furlough7
These potential problems need to be
resolved, Danforth said, but " all a
lawyer does is predict what a court
would do"
Since the courts have never dealt
( See PRISON, Page M)
t
- - '
Six seek school board seats
By Mary Dalbeim and Karen Olson
Missourian staff writers
A semes of last- minu- te filings has tur-ned
what could have been a dull school
board election into a contest
Until Friday, Ray Lewis and Patsy
Garner had no opponents in the April 6
election for two positions on the Colum-bia
Board of Education Now, six
names -- those of Joseph A Cady. Hillis
D Crowell, Arlin Epperson, Phil
Prather, Garner and Lewis will ap--
pear on the ballot
Board President Ray Lewis, 49, of
1233 Sunset Drive, will seek re- electi- on
by making his first priority " to solve
the district's present financial crisis "
He outlined four other areas of con-cern
reconditioning old buildings,
continuing to stress vocational
education, striking a balance between
curriculum extras and basic skills, with
an increased emphasis on the basics,
and stressing " firm but fair"
classroom discipline
He has been a school board member
since 1970 and has served as president
for the past two years Lewis, a prac-ticing
attorney in Columbia for 21
years, is a partner in the Smith, Lewis
and Rogers law firm
He has two daughters who were
graduated from Hickman High School
and a son who attends there now Lewis
is a ueacon at the First Christian Chur-ch
Candidate Patsy Gamer, 38, of 109
Russell Blvd , says she would like to in--
crease the school board's effectiveness
as both a policy- makin- g body and a two- wa- y
communication line between
school and community
" Two ways parent and community in-volvement
could increase are through
more productive use of citizens' ad-visory
councils and unproved volunteer
programs," Gamer says
Another of Garner's concerns is ' the
need to have programs which reflect
locally determined goals and priorities
Too often we build our programs
around federal funds that are available,
instead of developing programs to
fulfill unmet needs of our students," she
says
" The quality of schools depends
heavily upon the teaching staff," Gar-ner
says " We need to continue to at-tract
and retain the most capable
people by giving teachers the en-couragement
and recognition they
deserve "
She believes well- planne- d, in- servi- ce
( See LAST- MINUT- E, Page 16)
68th Year No. 133 Good Morning! It's Saturday, February 28 1 976 16 Pages - 15 OnN
Fire officials issue
burning permit ban
Because of record high temperatures
that have caused numerous brush fires,
permits for burning inside Columbia
have been suspended until further
notice, Marvin Nichols, fire prevention
batallion chief for the Columbia Fire
Department said Friday.
But even with the ban, local fire
fighters are exraecting a large number
of calls dunrg tne weekend
Dave Busse, a fire fighter for the
Boone County Fire Protection District
said Friday, " It's frustrating, but
there's no way it can be stopped "
Officers of the fire protection district
and the Columbia department warned
that high winds and dry weather have
increased the possibility of grass and
brush fires
Fire fighters from the two depart-ments
said they responded to 15 grass
fires Thursday and Friday an
unusually large number of such fires
for February Nichols said that anyone
violating the burning ban would be sub-ject
to prosecution.
Because of the warm weather trend,
specialists fear Columbia may ex-perience
a hot, dry summer with
possible drought conditions
Delbert Porter of the National
Weather Service said a report from the
St Louis weather service shows that
" 75 iter cent of the times we've had a
warm February, we've had a hot and
dry summer"
The warm, dry weather has set a high
temperature record for the Columbia
area
Larry Blanchard, weather service
specialist at the Columbia Regional
Airport, said this is the fourth warmest
February since 1890, when record-keeping
began " This is the fifth time
this month we've had temperatures at
least 20 degrees above normal "
Richard Crabb, fire fighter for the
county fire district said most of the
grass fires this week were caused by
careless burning
Crabb said the district will keep ad-ditional
fire fighters on duty this
weekend to handle the expected in-crease
in calls
vfBfEtB--- BSES- n
One person's pleasure is another's poison. While University
freshmen Bev Dietrich, left, and Robin Beissenherz basked
in the afternoon sun Friday, Bob Stanley of the Columbia
Fire Department kicked at a smoldering stump during a
grass fire that was making his day a bit more uncomfortable
( Missourian photos by Barry J Locher)
6Good schools' face reality of cutbacks
By Michael Days
Missourian staff writer
The focus of the Columbia Public
School District's tax rate increase and
bond campaign is that " Good Schools
are a Tradition in Columbia " Yet the
presentations are interspersed with the
realities of a budget that has been cut
and trimmed as much as possible
Since the school board adopted an
" austerity budget" last year, it has
made cuts in the following areas, ac-cording
to statistics compiled by the
school board
The number of teachers was
reduced by 13, although enrollment in-creased
by 98
The number of school buses was cut
by five
The budget for class field trips was
slashed by two- third- s.
The building maintenance budget
was reduced by $ 80,000 during the last
two years
The capital outlay budget, which in-cludes
major items of equipment, such
as microscopes, typewriters and audio-visual
equipment, was cut by ap-proximately
two- thir- ds The capital
outlay budget was reduced from
$ 124,435 two years ago to $ 87,500 last
year, and then reduced again to $ 28,500
this year
Other efforts to economize have in-cluded
the lowering of thermostats m
classrooms, turning off some lights and
students using both sides of paper
The district's voters will decide
Tuesday whether the 44- ce- nt tax rate
increase and the $ 2 5 million bond issue
becomes law Bom require a two- thir- ds
voter approval
The bond issue would not raise taxes
Polls located throughout the distinct
will be open from 6 am to7pm
Because of a typographical error, the
$ 2.5 million bond issue was reported
Friday in the Columbia Missourian as
$ 12 5 million
Passage of the levy would allow for
an increase in teachers' salaries Board
of Education president Ray Lewis said
the percentage increase each teacher
would receive is not yet known The
present base salary is $ 7,700, about
$ 250 below the median base salary for
teachers in AAA schools in Missouri
In the last five years the base salary
for teachers in Columbia has increased
31 per cent while, according to the
Bureau of Labor Statistics, the cost of
living has increased 45 6 per cent
Teachers were given a 2 per cent base
salary increase last year
The average salaries for AAA schools
in both the Kansas City and St Louis
areas are well above those in Columbia
The average starting salary in the Kan-sas
City and St Louis areas are well
above those in Columbia The average
starting salary in the Kansas City area
is $ 8,238, while in the St Louis area it is
$ 8,518 The only school districts with
AAA ratings below Colunua's starting
salary are Kirksville at $ 7,400, Han-nibal
at $ 7,550 and Fulton at $ 7,600
Other representative starting salaries
are St Joseph, $ 8,000, Jefferson City,
$ 8,350, Sedalia, $ 7,796, and St Charles,
$ 7,900
Defeat of the levy could mean a
drastic increase" in the present 26 3
student average to each teacher, Lewis
said School Superintendent Robert
Shaw told a civic group earlier this
month that if the levy does not pass, the
board, teachers and parents would
have to get together to see what must be
dismantled
The district now spends ap-proximately
80 per cent of its budget on
salaries, Lewis said And, he said, the
district s administrative costs of 1 9 per
cent of the total budget are below the
state's average of 3 1 per cent
In addition to an increase mteacher's
salaries, the 44- ce- nt increase would
allow the district to meet the increasing
( See STATE, Page 16)
Youth's good deeds
bring death threats
LOS ANGELES ( UPI) - Ten- year- o- ld
Leon President is a hero to
the police for single- handed- ly catch-ing
a young thief, but he has been
getting death threats from his school
chums, his mother says, and is
leaving town
Leon was hailed as a hero by the
City Council for tracking down a
juvenile burglary ring and praised
by the police chief as a good exam-ple.
The police commission added its
laurels Thursday, a citation and a
new pair of real police handcuffs to
replace the dime store handcuffs
Leon lost when he pulled one of the
gang members off a bicycle and held
him for police.
Commission President Sam
Williams praised Leon for showing
" presence of mind, maturity of
judgment air a respect for law en-forcement
far beyond bis yean."
Leon's mother, Kathy President,
told the ccmrnjarion she waa proud
of her son. But she said she was sen-ding
Mm to live in another town
because of death threats from his
schoolmates She would not say
where he was going
Leon's story began last September
when he noticed children in his
neighborhood had a lot of money to
spend on trips to Disneyland,
bicycles and cash gifts to friends
Recalling a series of burglaries in
the neighborhood, usually the apart-ments
of elderly persons robbed af-ter
cashing Social Security checks,
Leon began investigating and soon
was offered an $ 11 bribe to keep
quiet by three boys and a girl, ages
10 to 12, who learned he was aware of
their thefts
Leon took the cash to the
Hollywood division police station,
told his story to detectives and went
along when they made the arrests
While officers were in a house
taking the girl into custody, Leon
saw a 12- year-- old boy flee from the
rear door, hop on a bicycle and pedal
away Leon chased him on foot,
pulled him off the bicycle and clam-ped
his toy store handcuffs on him,
holding him for the detectives.
Survey indicates tax levy may fail
By Michael Days
Missourian staff writer
The Columbia Public School
District's proposed 44- ce- nt tax increase
and $ 2.5 million bond issue probably
will not be approved Tuesday, ac-cording
to a survey conducted by a
local radio station
In a random mad survey of
registered voters conducted by KBIA
radio ( 91 3 FM) the proposed tax in-crease
was favored by 41 per cent Fif-teen
per cent had no opinion. The bond
issue was favored by 44 per cent of the
respondents and opposed by 36 per cent
with 20 per cent undecided
Both issues would require a two- thir- ds
voter approval for passage
The survey, conducted under the
direction of Roger Gafke, KBIA news
director, and David Leuthold, Univer
sity associate professor of political
science, was conducted Feb 13 to 26
The survey was designed to be within
10 percentage points of what the results
would have been if all voters had been
interviewed, Leuthold said He
cautioned, however, that attitudes may
change before the vote Tuesday
because of campaigning by the school
district, the Parent- Teach- er
Association and the Community
Teachers Association
The questions asked were: " How do
you feel about the two propoflfcls to be
voted on March 2' Do yoa WRr or op-pose
the 44- ce- nt per $ 100 Ijteessed
valuation tax increase7 Do you fttVor or
oppose the $ 2 5 million bond issue?
No questions were asked in the sur--,
vey to give a deer JasScaSSon of who
planned to vote, UagteMaatdK either
the opponents or proponents tsfiB out to
vote at a substantially higher rate than
the other group, the survey results may
vary substantially from the actual
results of Tuesday's voting
The defeat of the tax increase would
not be surprising in view of the history
of sucn proposals in the distinct ac-cording
to the KBIA poll Three times in
the past 17 years the district has asked
voters to approve an increase in the
operating tax levy In each case the
proposal required a two- thir- ds majority
and was defeated
The KBIA report stated, however,
that bond issues in the same period
always have been approved by the
necessary two- thir- ds majority with
one exception In October 1959 a bond
issue was defeated in an election in
which the district also was asking for
an increase to the operating levy.
Leuthold said lack of support for the
bond issue could be explained as voter
disapproval of raising taxes Re-spondents
gave high ratings, Leuthold
said, to the quality of the school system
Voters were asked if they considered
local taxes to be high, medium, or low
and their responses were clearly
related to their position on the school
bond issue, according to the KBIA poll
Eighty- seve- n per cent of the people who
think local taxes are low favor the bond
issue, compared to 11 per cent of the
people who think local taxes are very
high
The KBIA poll shows supporters of
the school bond issue in Columbia are
comparatively young, well- educat- ed
professional people Opponents tend to
be older people who attended school at
a time when few people went to college